Using WooCommerce PDF Invoices with FedEx Shipping Plugin

When you list out the best shipping services, FedEx seems to top that list. They offer a ton of services, facilities and have one of the biggest delivery networks. What even more amazing is with the introduction of WooCommerce, many FedEx solutions like WooCommerce FedEx Shipping plugin, play an important role in helping store owners to ship their items. When it comes to features and functionality, this plugin is at par with any one of its competitions.

Recently, this plugin received an update that includes the compatibility of the famous WooCommerce PDF Invoices. This is a big step in terms of the overall order management process.

As a store owner, you are responsible for safely delivering items to your customers along with necessary documents. With this integration, you can ship your order using FedEx services and share the soft-copy of the order invoice with your customers via email. In this article, we are going to tell how this integration works and how both the plugins can help you manage your daily orders in a better way. So, without any further delay, let us quickly get on with it.

How to set up both the plugins?

The setup process of both the plugins is quite simple. You just need to download the plugins from here and then follow the onscreen instructions to install them.

WooCommerce FedEx Shipping Plugin with Print Label

WooCommerce PDF Invoices

Once you are done installing the plugins, you need to make sure that the FedEx shipping rates are coming up on the Cart page. You can follow the following documentation that will guide you through the entire process.

Now that you are able to see the shipping rates on the Cart page, you can go to WooCommerce > Invoices. Once you are on this page, you would find something like the following:

You can go ahead and set up this plugin by enabling the necessary options and defining certain rules. Here is the guide to install the plugin to your WordPress-based store.

A good thing about this plugin is that you get to choose the template of the order number. If you go to the Template section of the plugin, you would find the section to define the template. Here you can in any way you would want to show. As you can see in the image given below, we have defined the Format as [number]-[Y], which will translate into something like 00002-2018.

How do they work together?

Now that you have configured the plugins based on your needs, it is time to go ahead and place an order. But before that, you need to copy a code snippet into your Appearance > Editor > functions.php. This is a very crucial step and you should not miss it. Here is the link to copy the code snippet.

Once you are done copying the code snippet, you can go ahead and place a new order. With the help of both the plugins, you would find your new order in the WooCommerce > Orders, which would look something like this:

As you can see, the PDF Invoice option is available in the top right section of the Edit order page. Here you can click on View to download the invoice. This plugin also allows your customers to directly download the invoice right from the My Account page. And yes, you can choose to disable that as well.

You can further go ahead and create the shipment and go to the print label section of the Edit order page. You can refer the following video that demonstrates how to print the shipping labels.

As you can see in the video, once you create the shipment, the plugin allows you to print the shipping label directly from the WooCommerce admin side. What’s more is that it allows you to print the return label as well. And if want to cancel the shipment then you can click on the Void Shipment option. Here is how the Print Label option looks like:

Once you click on the Print Label, the plugin automatically downloads the label. Here is how the shipping labels look like. Please observe that the invoice number is also mentioned on the label. It is denoted by the symbol INV:

What are the benefits of using a PDF invoice plugin along with a Shipping plugin?

Although, you might not need to use a dedicated plugin to handle invoices because WooCommerce helps you do that. But, contrary to the benefits, there are limitations to it. For one, WordPress registers every new event as a new post and thus the Order ID is inconsistent and not in sequence. This can be a huge problem when it comes to managing orders. Read this article to know more about this issue and how to solve it.

Now coming back to the benefits of using a PDF Invoice plugins, here is a small list:

Helps you send the invoice immediately – There is no need to keep a record of your orders and wait for your account manager to send the invoice. Rather, you can automatically generate the invoices using a PDF Invoice plugin.

You can track you past order – Nothing is worse than an error in the balance sheet. If you misplace an order or forget to include it in your monthly/yearly balance sheet, then it might affect your overall budget and income. A PDF Invoice plugin can help you manage your past orders better.

You save both money and time – It is true that you might have to pay for the plugin if you are going to buy the premium version. However, it is way lesser than preparing a robust system that handles your invoices. Also, you save a lot of time with the automation feature of the plugin.

Another good thing to know is that using a digital solution to handle your invoices is much better than handling paperwork. And with shipping of the order involved in the process, it makes more sense to use one.

Hope this article was useful to you in some way. Do let us know in the comment section below how you feel about it. And if you facing any issue with the FedEx Shipping Plugin then do contact our customer support.